This was one of the most memorable books I've read this year. Very rarely do you read fiction about the elderly, and even more rarely do you read about an elderly couple facing their imminent mortality.
John and Ella Robina have been married more than fifty years. Now that Ella is battling terminal cancer and John Alzheimer's, they decide to gas up their RV and head out for one last adventure. Despite the horror and pleadings from their children and doctors, Ella refuses to just sit at home at wait to die. John, however, rarely remembers where home is and just does whatever Ella says.
There is symbolism abound in this book. The idea of taking a road trip on an old and decrepit road like Route 66 is not lost on the reader and Zadoorian writes in such a way that makes Ella and John's journey feel like your own - something that many of us have never stop to think about out of fear.
Once you get past the fear, however, you see the tenderness of this couple, and that even when faced with the end the road, they still choose to be on it together. What could be more hopeful than that?
I can only hope that if my husband and I make it to our eighties, that we decide to keep the adventures going like John and Ella, even when we're close to the end of the road.
The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian
Published: January 2009
Pages: 272
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Adults
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